Jim Diamond 1am - 4am
Why Everyone Should Be Angry At The #DeniedMyVote Scandal
28 May 2019, 11:58
Maajid Nawaz is furious about the scandal of EU citizens being denied a vote in the European Elections - and he explains why you should be angry too.
Up to a third of Europeans based in the UK never received their ballot paper for last week's election and many were then turned away at the ballot box.
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to raise enough funds to sue the government, and already some of the UK’s top lawyers have agreed to help.Â
Speaking on LBC as he stood in for James O'Brien, Maajid said: "These things matter. They count.
"The result would have been different and if estimates are correct, up to one in three EU citizens suffered with this error and that's a lot of votes.
"It is shocking that up to 1million EU citizens in this country may have been denied their vote. It simply isn't good enough.
"The Electoral Commission should be seriously looking into this. Councils hiding behind the Brexit mess as an excuse need to be told that's simply not good enough.
"People fought hard for the right to vote and to fiddle with it this way, whether deliberately or through gross negligence, is tinkering with the course of history."
Maajid insisted it seemed crazy that at a time when people do their banking, communication and more on a phone, voting still relies on a piece of paper being sent out.
A government spokesperson said: "I am aware of the reports, but the government doesn't have a role in the administration of the polls."